


Bittersweet

by respierra



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist
Genre: Canon: Fullmetal Alchemist (2003), Canon: Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-30
Updated: 2013-01-30
Packaged: 2017-11-27 14:15:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/662932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/respierra/pseuds/respierra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He was a special sort of boy, that much was obvious; the kind of special best observed from afar and not close enough to feel the affects of. There are always people who didn't mind playing fire, though, even when it leaves a hole in their hearts. Three of them, in his case.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bittersweet

Roy

His hair falls softly over burnt, dry fingers. It's so light and so pure that for a second Roy thinks it will stain his hands, leaving traces of rarities like these. The door to his office is locked, the rest of the world outside buzzing about and spinning on without them. In here everything else is muted, only the two of them basking in the stillness and the minuscule events where they are alone, no haunted pasts clawing at their hearts or prying eyes interrupting. Soon, they will have to hide their relations away in dark corners, erasing the touches and the kisses spent so that they both can move forward. In the little moments he has now, though, Roy can finally believe in paradise.

* * *

 

Winry

She remembers feeling the demons stuck in his mind on nights like these, trapped in rib cages and dry throats. When the sky was stained dark it was always her job to pick out the horrors, to immerse herself in slurred nightmares and glue him back together. It was her sweat and tears and frustration that gave him another day. Behind every bolt and screw and steel plate lies the woman’s strength, cracking for Edward and Alphonse but also herself.

For now, she’ll wait, quietly mourning inevitable deaths that haven’t occurred yet and shedding a piece of her life for them to carry on their way. She will go on as well, breathing life into metal miracles in ways alchemists can only dream of. She will fume at every loose bolt and dented scrap of metal he brings back to her in order to hide the worried wobble of her lip. She will laugh and cry and scream and dance like she was destined to; all the while tucking away twin bloodstained memories of stubborn boys who embedded themselves into her soul in a small, cluttered drawer of her mind, saving them for a rainy day when no one can see how the color of gold and crimson breaks her heart the way it does.

* * *

 

Alfons

Its ugly and vile but he can’t help it as his dirty palms slam the smaller boy (they’re only just boys in the end he’s just a boy only some boy when the night falls) into the wall. Edward hits it with a dull thump, and Alfons knows that Noah can, will hear what they’re doing, but instead of guilt the anger inside coils tighter and he’s suffocating. Ed’s shaking except there’s no fear in his eyes as he stares at him, facing the German with a hardened mask that tells him a million things. 

Going limp, Edward slumps down on the cot and looks expectant, willing yet cold. Alfons feels he’s sleeping with a corpse and maybe he is, maybe he isn’t surprised with the revelation. The body underneath him is a blurred memory and a complete stranger, which unnerves him more than the boy's wordless complacency.

It isn't even close to love, and he would be lying if he said that was what he wanted from the foreigner in his bed tonight, and a dozen tomorrows that will leave his head reeling and his rotting bones aching. No, his love lies upwards-within the metal and chemicals and fumes miles away that will bring him closer to the stars-where his fate resides. Until then, he will have to settle with the closest thing to heaven, even if it means swallowing the hate and the sting that comes with standing too close to the sun.

 


End file.
